Full video

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hi how are you how are you oh okay how

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are you and how are you are two very

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common ways to say to people when you

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first see them and often students will

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reply I'm fine thank you

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how are you come on in this video I'm

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going to explain why we shouldn't use

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I'm fine I'm also going to give you my

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absolute favorite reply to how are you

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and also the reply that makes me go

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crazy I hate it I'm also gonna give you

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10 better more natural more native

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alternatives to the question how are you

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that I really want you to use so that

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you stop saying I'm fine thanks how are

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you let's go if you're new here I'm Greg

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I teach British English pronunciation

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and upper intermediate and advanced

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vocabulary and grammar so if you want to

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speak advanced English I will help you

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so how are you I'm fine boring oh and

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also nobody says that nobody says I'm

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fine thanks how are you it's something

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that you learn in textbooks and we never

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use it and there are so many alternative

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better ways to answer the question also

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while we're talking about this nobody

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says how do you do how do you do I'm

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fine thanks how are you

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come on that's how textbooks speak not

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how real native speakers speak now the

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question how are you how are you how are

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you this question gives you an

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opportunity to make the other person

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smile at least in my opinion I think the

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answer really sets the tone for the rest

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of the conversation if you give a

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negative answer the conversation is

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quite negative if you give a really Oh

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beat energetic fun funny answer you can

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really set the tone for a nice positive

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conversation and even make the other

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person smile before you've even really

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started talking with that in mind I'm

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going to tell you the answer to how are

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you that I hate the most in the world

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and that is hey how are you it's Monday

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what come on be more positive Monday

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Monday

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best day of the week okay maybe not but

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come on you can be a little bit more

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positive boom whoa it's Monday

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my favorite answer to how are you is

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probably what my uncle says when people

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call him trying to sell him mobile phone

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contracts insurance and say hello mister

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how are you

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he often says well I'm glad you asked I

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woke up this morning with a little bit

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of a back pain

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the weather's not great i spilt some

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coffee on my lap this morning so I'm a

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burnt my upper leg so yeah thanks for

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asking how are you okay seriously you've

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got to stop saying I'm fine

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there are such better options available

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so let's have a look at ten alternatives

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that native speakers say the most common

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one is I'm alright

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in British English we often ask how are

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you by saying you all right and the

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answer is I'm all right

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you all right yeah I'm all right we

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could even make this shorter by saying

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all right all right yes that's right

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instead of saying how do you do I'm fine

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thanks how are you we just say all right

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all right

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another way is saying I'm okay I'm okay

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you okay yeah I'm okay

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how are you I'm okay another very very

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common way is not bad how are you not

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bad all we can say not too bad

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how are you not too bad you'll notice

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that all these ways are a little bit

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negative all right okay not bad we sell

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British sometimes I wish we were more

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American not positive how are you

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awesome but hey we're British what are

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we gonna do all these examples have

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given so far are very very common you

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will hear them all the time in British

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English the next few I'm gonna give you

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are a little bit more poetic a little

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bit less common but if you say them

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you're going to bring a smile to the

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other person's face and that's what we

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want so how are you can't complain

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can't

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complain how are you can't complain

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okay great if you've got nothing to

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complain about then all is good how are

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you

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hanging in there hanging in there

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hanging like you are hanging off the

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edge of a cliff just about surviving

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hanging in there it means you're

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surviving a couple of really nice ones

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are not too shabby not too shabby

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how are you not too shabby shabby is

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well the dictionary says that shabby is

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neglected old looking inferior yeah this

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is shabby so how are you not too shabby

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it's just nice way a funny way to say

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not bad quite an old-fashioned

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expression but what I really like is

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fair to middlin so how are you fair

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that's like yeah 50% middling is also

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middling so in the middle so about 50%

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so how are you fair to middling

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so somewhere in between fair and

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middling somewhere in between 50% and

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50% in other words 50% how are you fair

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to middlin again it means neither great

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nor terrible right in the middle not bad

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all right okay fair to Midland now if

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you want to be positive and please I

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recommend you to be positive we all need

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to be more positive then you can say I'm

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good how are you I'm good I did a video

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on the difference between well and good

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a while ago I did say that this is

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actually grammatically incorrect but I

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also said that people say this all the

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time I say this all the time so how you

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I'm good it's just nice to be a bit more

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positive than yeah not bad okay all

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right can't complain and if you're not

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brave enough to be good you can be

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pretty good how are you pretty good

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Wow even that sounds more positive than

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all the usual answers we give to the

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question how are you now it's funny

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because when we are okay and good and

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everything's fine we always say that we

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are not bad or okay we always say the

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opposite really of what we are if we're

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great we say we're okay if we're

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fantastic we say we're not bad but what

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happens when we actually are bad if

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we're sad if we've had some really bad

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news or if we're ill then what we

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normally say in this situation is that

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we have been better I have been better

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so we use a positive word in a negative

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sentence to say that we are bad in the

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same way that we use a negative word in

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a positive sentence to say that we are

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good why do we have to be so complicated

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so if you aren't really bad you can say

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I've been better

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I mean you can say this if if someone's

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died how are you

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I've been better you could also say not

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great not the best again using positive

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words great and the best but in a

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negative sentence not great not the best

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to say that we are bad so don't say I'm

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fine

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beat more native be more creative and

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say one of those alternatives the next

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time a native speaker asks you how are

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you if you've liked this lesson please

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download my book that will help you

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speak advanced English and it's free you

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can get that by clicking the link in the

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description thanks for being here I will

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see you in the next lesson just click

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thumbs up before you leave and bye for

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now

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